The
CCW Archives Coherent CW Unofficial
archive of the works from the early pioneers of Amateur Radio's digital
communications era

Maintained
by N2APB & the NJ-QRP, with
permission from the original CCW archive owner Bill McClune, N3REY

Introduction

Back
in the mid-70's, I became interested in an experimental mode of
digital communications in the Amateur ranks called Coherent CW.
Initially described in QEX, and later chronicled in a dedicated
newsletter, the CCW "cult" grew and evolved through many phases
and technologies to become what we know today as Binary Phase Shift
Keying, or BPSK. Even today's immensely vogue PSK31 is a derivative of the
BPSK principles originated back in the days of the CCW pioneers.

This
CCW Archive website is a resurrection of a similar one maintained for
years by Bill McClune, N3REY. Bill had collaborated with many of
these pioneering digital hams over the years, assisting in their
experiments and helping to document the various works that evolved.
Ultimately he had amassed a collection of various written works and
article reprints which he posted and made available for years on his
personal website, with appropriate permission from the authors and
magazine entities. In time, N3REY's attention was rechanneled and
his website disappeared.Before
this original archive was lost, I had received permission to capture it
and maintain such that others could benefit from the works of the early
giants in the field.

The
material contained in this CCW Archive is somewhat raw, as many of its
documents are unprocessed scans of diagrams and printed material that were
done in an age prior to our current electronic documentation
conveniences. I've had a background activity going to clean things
up by reformatting and reorganizing, yet still keeping original
content. This restoration work continues and regular visitors to the
Archives will notice periodic improvements.

I've
also submitted this entire CCW Archive to the ARRL and they are in process
of incorporating it into the mainline of their comprehensive technical
information web pages. Until such time as this porting is complete,
this NJQRP-maintained website shall remain intact.

Enjoy
the rich technical history of CCW contained below -- and hop into the
exciting activities of its current incarnations: PSK31, MFSK, CLOVER and
many other digital modes!

Amateur
Radio Coherent CW was invented by Ray Petit, W7GHM. He is also the
inventor of Clover now manufactured by HAL Communications. The first
amateur QSO was by Andy McCaskey, WA7ZVC using a Ten-Tec PM-1. CCW
was promoted by Chas. Woodson (Woody), W6NEY a professor at Stanford
University. Woody published a newsletter in the eary 1970's.
Ade Weiss, W0RSP wrote some articles in CQ and Woody, W6NEY publish a
series of articles in QST in 1979 - 1981 period. In February 1994
VE2IQ published his circuit for CCW using a PC and DSP techniques.
Peter Lamb, G3IRM wrote a newsletter on CCW techniques in the early
1990's.

CCW moved on to BPSK techniques and is presently being used on 80 meters.
A lot of this work, software, etc. is available on the web. The ARRL had
information in the 1980's handbooks and still has some material in the
current issues.

Amateur CCW was developed before we had nice microprocessors, DSP and
other current technology. It's been around for 25 years, is only as
complex as an SSB transmitter, and certainly within the building ability
of all most all amateurs. One does not need power ... it is a QRPp
mode.

CCW is slow ... 12 wpm CW. You need a good freq standard, but
today we can use GPS timing (see TAPR web site). It works in noise and
under poor conditions and has been proven to work on the ham bands.

CCW
Compendium -- by George Heron, N2APB and Peter
Eaton, WB9FLW. This is a
bibliography of over 400 pages of CCW literature, projects, historical
happenings, technology evolution, and more. Some of the references
have been mentioned in recent feedback (e.g., QST articles)

CCW
- The More You Know About a Signal, The Easier It Is To Copy-- by George Heron, N2APB and Peter Eaton, WB9FLW.
George and Peter wrote a paper concerning CCW that was ultimately
presented as two speaking sessions at the 1998 FDIM session at Dayton.
Peter overviewed the rich and colorful history evolution of this low bandwidth communications
mode brought about by some ham pioneering giants, and I reviewed the technology and a practical homebrew CCW rig and station.
(Partial article ... never finished and not used in FDIM.)Stealth CW-- by
Stan Wilson AK0B, St. Louis QRP Society Peanut Whistle January
1995.Stan's article is a wonderful 2-3 page detailed overview of the
technology. (At the moment I can't find the electronic version of
his piece, but I do have permission from Stan to post it.)

BPSK article in QRPp--
by Vic Black, AB6SO in QRPp for Vic clearly and succinctly overviews the evolution and
current state of the technology, and gives some additional references.